Howell: Von Trier’s Nazi remarks overshadow premiere

Danish director riles Cannes with new sci-fi film and pro-Hitler comments

Lars Von Trier poses with cast members Charlotte Gainsbourg (left) and Kirsten Dunst (right) during a photocall for the film, Melancholia. Von Trier stirred up the Cannes film festival with his Nazi comments.

Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier, a.k.a. the World’s Worst Comedian, managed to both dazzle and disgust people Wednesday at the Cannes Film Festival.

He dazzled with Melancholia, his new science fiction film, premiering here, that sets a fractious family wedding amidst the impending end of the world, caused by a rogue planet colliding with Earth. Although critical opinions seemed mixed, there’s no denying von Trier is still a potent writer/director and master manipulator of images and moods.

He disgusted with his childish behaviour at the post-screening news conference. He clearly embarrassed his film’s female leads, Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg, by pushing a joke about wanting to make a hardcore porn movie with them far past the point of amusement.

But that was nothing compared with how he shocked the entire room with an extended riff on how he considers himself to be a Nazi because he has some German blood in him: “I really wanted to be a Jew and then I found out I was really a Nazi . . . I understand Hitler . . . I sympathize with him a little bit . . . I am very much for Jews, though not too much, because the Israelis are a pain in the ass . . .”

This was extreme even by the standards of von Trier, a Cannes regular who habitually shoots his mouth off when placed in close proximity with journalists. He seems to fancy himself to be a stand-up comedian, but his sense of humour is perverse, to say the least, and he has no sense of how to read a room.

Von Trier caused enough of an uproar for the festival, “disturbed” by the remarks, to issue an apology from the director, who claims he “let himself be egged on by a provocation.”

It’s a feeble excuse and, besides, there was no such provocation. He made the Nazi remarks when a British journalist asked him about his German family heritage.

His antics detracted from full appreciation of Melancholia, a generally commendable film that is competing for the Palme d’Or in Sunday’s closing awards ceremony.

It harkens back to von Trier’s early days, some 27 years ago, when he was known as a maker of sci-fi rather than the angsty dramas like Breaking the Waves and Dancer in the Dark that would later establish him as a bonafide auteur and Palme d’Or contender.

Melancholia is titled for the stray planet that is heading towards Earth, with a catastrophic collision being only a matter of time unless science or a miracle intervenes.

It also describes the chronically depressed mood of Dunst’s character, Justine, first glimpsed in a startling slo-mo opening montage and overture, which is set to the monumental strains of Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde.

Justine, young sister of Claire (Gainsbourg) is getting married in a lavish wedding at a country estate, an event paid for by her brother-in-law (Kiefer Sutherland). Justine is delighted to be marrying the dapper Michael (Alexander Skarsgaard), but she falls into another of her black moods when the wedding reception is interrupted by the renewed warring of her divorced parents (John Hurt and Charlotte Rampling).

The first half of the film is named for Justine and her depression; the second half for Claire and her fears about the impending Apocalypse. These prove to be justified as the planet Melancholia draws ever closer, traveling at a speed of 98,000 km/h, indicating that Justine’s dark spirit is for once entirely understandable.

“To me it’s not so much a film about the end of the world. It’s a film about a state of mind,” von Trier said. “I’ve been through some melancholic stages of my life so it was kind of obvious to do this.”

He was referring to the depression he fought while before making his previous film Antichrist, a horror starring Gainsbourg, which was greeted with considerable critical derision at its 2009 Cannes premiere.

“To me, Lars is the only director who specifically just writes films for women, who can be ugly or messy and emotional,” Dunst said. “(He doesn’t) have this perfect idea of what women should be in film.”

She added she experienced “open vulnerability and trust” working with von Trier, and it’s why she agreed to do a couple of nude scenes in Melancholia, including one where she’s lying on the bank of a river.

Von Trier said he chose Dunst to play Justine partly because she has “some knowledge of depression” through personal experience.

“Especially the look in her eyes, I thought, was perfect.”

He admitted “we got a little bit carried away” with the Wagnerian overtones, and he wouldn’t be at all surprised if some critics pan his film. He loves it, but maybe he’s lost all perspective on it.

“Maybe it’s crap. I hope not. Of course, there’s a very big possibility that this may not be worth seeing.”

He’s not at all upset about the thought of the end of the world, however, which he noted that some end-of-days zealots are predicting could happen as early as next week.

“The fact that planet Earth is being destroyed is not alarming, because we’re all going to die at some point.”

He didn’t intend Melancholia to be completely melancholic, but then he does get into trouble when he tries to be funny – and how.

“Whenever I make a comedy, they become melancholic,” he said.

“This was a comedy – you don’t want to see a tragedy!”

MEL’S NOT SWELL WITH FRENCH: The daily straw polls of journalists for the Palme d’Or race don’t show any clear leader at the moment, with Aki Kaurismaki’s Le Havre and the Dardenne Bros.’ The Kid With a Bike in an apparent statistical dead heat for first place. Several major Palme contenders are still to screen.

But there’s no doubt that redemption-sleeking bad boy Mel Gibson will have as much trouble or more finding an audience with his new film The Beaver in Europe as he did in North America.

Of 10 French critics polled by Le Film Français following The Beaver’s out-of-competition European premiere Tuesday, just one declared himself to be “passionnément” about the film. The rest liked it just a bit or not at all.

Follow on Twitter: @peterhowellfilm

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